I would like to share a video that makes me very uncomfortable.
Here we have a chat show where they are discussing if Jenner should have won the Arthur Ashe courage award. A right wing agitator deliberately refers to another transgender guest as ´sir´. She responds by threatening him… “You cut that out now or you’ll go home in an ambulance.”
I really am interested to know your opinion about this incident. Is Zoe Tur valiantly defending trans-rights or proving that once a man always a man?
What is the appropriate response?
I wouldn’t necessarily call that transphobic – it’s rather simply ignorant and sexist. Violence isn’t gendered, as such. Think of the whole “mama bear” trope – self-defense, and defense of those you are close to or solidaric with, is something even the most gender-conforming women engage in. Not only butches bite back when attacked.
Sure, the concrete threat in this particular case is unusual for a woman, especially a femme woman. But that’s because women are usually not able to beat a male attacker to mush (although they can still physically injure him so much that he’ll need an ambulance), so it would be disbelieved and therefore ineffective. It would just invite ridicule. And it’s also because of socialization. In fact, gender-conforming women tend not to employ threats at all: threats are a stereotypically masculine strategy. But that doesn’t mean it’s completely out of question for a woman, because it’s only a tendency, and doesn’t even apply for butches in the first case.